Office for the Aging (OFA) is dedicated to improving the health and wellness of seniors and their families in Chautauqua County. While I believe OFA is making strides in accomplishing our goals, we could not be as effective without our many community partners who help us with programs and services. Over the next few months, I would like to feature some of our community partners that collaborate with OFA on various programs and let you know what these agencies do beyond assisting OFA.
The Chautauqua County Health Network (CCHN) is dedicated to strengthening the local health and wellness delivery system. This rural health network is comprised of the four hospitals, over 100 local physicians, health plans, and more than 30 community health related organizations. CCHN has been working for fourteen years to structure a system that provides access to quality services and meets the needs of consumers as well as providers. Taking a proactive approach, CCHN works collaboratively to identify effective community health solutions by analyzing issues, facilitating dialogue, supporting service development and advocating with elected officials for policy change. Key priorities include: improving access to health care and health care coverage, improving the quality and efficiency of our health care systems, and maintaining and growing the health care workforce.
CCHN has pursued an initiative designed to increase enrollment in programs to provide health insurance coverage for all people in Chautauqua County since 1996. They have brought together the insurance plans, employers, and related agencies in cooperative efforts to maximize local outreach and enrollment. Through a series of programs, events, and public information, CCHN attempts to ensure that all people in Chautauqua County are aware of opportunities for health insurance through the local Get Covered Health Initiative. The Get Covered Helpline provides a toll-free number that links people to information about coverage options, including medical care, dental, prescription, and vision, and may be used by individuals, agencies, and businesses in Chautauqua County. The Helpline offers tips on questions to ask insurers, considerations for plan selection, interpretation of product descriptions, information packets, and follow-up calls.
Recently CCHN expanded its ability to assist the uninsured by becoming the administrator of the Partners for Prevention Cancer Screening Program. Partners for Prevention provides free breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening services for the uninsured and underinsured targeting people aged 40 to 65.
Developing appropriate health resources for the community led CCHN to launch the Chautauqua Integrated Delivery System, an independent practice association made up of physicians and hospitals located within the county. In 1998, this group partnered with Univera Healthcare to bring the first Medicare Advantage Plan to Chautauqua County, and improve the ability of older adults to access high quality, affordable medical care. This partnership is unique in that it includes medical management by local physicians and nurse case managers who understand the community and its residents.
A growing concern in rural communities is the ability to attract and retain physicians and other key health care providers. CCHN is continually working to address the health care workforce needs through partnerships with the hospitals, physician offices, local education programs, and various agencies from the employment sector.
Believing that everyone should receive all of the care they need but only the care they want, CCHN has focused its efforts on streamlining care delivery to ensure that resident’s end-of-life wishes are known and respected. This includes: developing a secure web-based registry for health care proxies, disseminating Life Files, implementing Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), providing access to palliative care resources and referrals, and coordinating efforts among local providers. CCHN has a consultant who provides educational programs on advance care planning for community members, physician offices, health care facilities, and emergency response personnel.
In addition to the services above, CCHN has partnered with OFA on many occasions over the years because of our parallel missions of improving the health of people in our community. Over the last two years, I have had the pleasure of working with Executive Director, Ann Abdella, and the CCHN staff on many projects that are making a difference in our county like "Built Environments" a "STEPS to a Healthier NY" initiative to encourage improvements to the environment that promote healthy activities. In 2008, we received a grant with Hospice and CCHN to provide "End of Life" services to seniors and work with providers to raise awareness and provide choices to people who are facing life-limiting illness. Cara Seekings, from CCHN, developed an excellent booklet that doctors and patients can use to guide them through the difficult time. The booklet called "Along the Way" provides information about programs and services as well as guides the conversation between care providers and clients to make sure patients are prepared for their future and can chose how to live out their final days. Most recently, CCHN provided funding for our "Healthy Bones Initiative" allowing us to buy equipment and train several group leaders for our Healthy Bones classes. We look forward to continuing to collaborate on projects that improve health and wellness of people in Chautauqua County.
Please contact CCHN at 664-8445 to find out more about any of these projects or visit their website at
www.cchn.net.